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[odysseywhore]

Ghazal: With Prayer

BY ZEINA HASHEM BECK

The herons were no longer safe in the sky. They flew with prayer,

then fell to us. We hid them from the cats. What to do with prayer?

Decades after the civil war, we enter the sniper’s hole, sew

the sandbags, read words for his boyfriend on the wall, true with prayer.

Write my name & invite me to a wedding. I want a parade

of cars with flashers on, each blinking red, two times two with prayer.

Dear Eurydice, what good a heart that can’t resist looking back?

Foolish, music-laden Orpheus. Almost saved you with prayer.

In the museum of memory, the missing accumulate.

They shoot out of the tiles like grass blades, damp & new with prayer.

I found a photo in a library book: lovers holding hands.

I felt chosen, then lost it. & I didn’t pursue with prayer.

When I interviewed God, I said I moved the plants toward the light,

forgot the water. Is love a lack, always imbued with prayer?

Tarot cards, make me beautiful. Abundance me, O Three of Cups,

spin luck O Wheel of Fortune, I’m through, I’m through, I’m through with prayer.

[odysseywhore]

[odysseywhore]

when josé olivarez said “i once killed a plant because i gave it too much water, lord i worry that love is violence” and when mahmoud darwish said “If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears.” and when oscar wilde said “I have given away my whole soul to someone who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat.”

[odysseywhore]

"With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon who could not be happy?"

—Oscar Wilde

[odysseywhore]

Oh To Be in Love

I love you like the fire's burning rage you cannot walk through,

lest you be burnt amongst the city of flames I shall make for you.

I love you like the waves claim the shore during a tsunami,

try swimming and I'll crush everything you held close for you to float through.

you are only mine

I love you like the Earth loves her Sun

Brooding around him every single day.

Stalkerish, might I add

Careful, i am good with knives.

-Did you say you loved me?-

My words are repetitive like our routine

Good morning, what are you doing, how was your day

Sleep well my love!

The cut isn't deep today.